Moody's keeps U.S. credit rating in place

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Two of the three major rating agencies have now decided to keep the United States credit rating in place, despite the congressional super committee's failure to reach an agreement on deficit cuts.

Moody's announced Wednesday that it will maintain its Aaa rating. On Monday, Standard & Poors said it will keep its rating for U.S. bonds at AA-plus for the time being.

The super committee called it quits Monday without reaching any agreement on debt reduction. In order to stave off automatic spending cuts, the committee was supposed to come up with a deal by Nov. 23 to cut $1.2 trillion from the nation's deficit.

When the committee failed to do so, it sparked reaction from the ratings agencies.

"The committee outcome indicates that significant deficit reduction measures are unlikely to be adopted before the November 2012 elections," Moody's said. "Moody's currently has a negative outlook on the U.S. rating given the need over time for further deficit reduction to reverse the country's upward debt trajectory."

Like Moody's, S&P also has the country's credit rating on negative watch. And Fitch warned earlier this week, that it may consider doing the same.

Under Fitch's definition, "negative watch" indicates a greater than 50 percent chance that a downgrade will follow in the next two years. Fitch expects to announce its decision by next Thursday.

In August, S&P lowered the U.S. rating to AA-plus from the perfect AAA, and said its outlook was negative. Moody's and Fitch still hold the U.S. credit rating at the highest possible standard.